Epic: Nintendo's Wii Like a Virus

Aye, and like a virus, months after you've recovered a subtly different strain floors you.
See: Wii Fit, Wii Play and Sonic+Mario strains of Wii Sports

Well, got my Wii Fit yesterday and rushed home to play (work) on it and realised why Miyamoto was more enthusiastic showing that then Super Mario Galaxy. Nintendo under the stewardship of Iwata have really turned the videogame industry on its head, and I cant understand why the hardcore cant just enjoy what Nintendo has brung to the market over the past 2 years.

What I really enjoy is to get a couple of my 'bold space marine' hardcore gaming mates around who have no interest in wii - always taking the piss - and cracking out wii sports, zelda, re:uc, smg, links crossbow training, mp3, trauma center, endless ocean oh the list goes on.... and well half of them go out at the weekend and pick one up.

How any true gamer can possibly dismiss the wii as a fad is beyond me.

Just like a virus as pointed out by tyrion and config above, you have just proved the point they are making. Do your mates still play the Wii lots or did they buy it and then get bored?

Most of the hardcore don't get on with the Wii cos it doesn't have games that interest them. And I'm one of them, I have nothing against the Wii. The games just don't interest me.

exactly hence why no hardcore games are being made for it either..

I don't own a Wii but having been lent one for several months and having played bits of Zelda, Mario, Elebits, Resident Evil 4 and others. I feel that although the controls didn't add much to the first two they did improve the 2nd two, especially Elebits, which although not a classic, was greatly enhanced by main game mechanic (think grav gun in a toy shop).
In short, I think this isn't a hardware problem. Its a lack of big European and US games being made for the Wii, so back to Epic, Valve, Rockstar etc. to get on and make something for what is this biggest platform this gen.

Time is the only thing that will absolve the Wii of fad-dom. As reported the standard metrics don't apply...give it a year or two, if its still chugging along like the Little Engine That Could, very well then...but remember...

If the going is hard and the grade is rough, thinking you can just ain't enough.

As for somehow shaming or cajoling Western devs to make games for it, if its that good market forces should work, huh? Obviously they must have reasons for avoiding it...perhaps they think it has plague?

Too right. There are shed loads of Wii owners out there with cash in hand, wanting to new games - the sales of Sonic+Mario@Olympics and more recently Mario Kart is evidence of this.

However, the devs can't get their heads around exactly what will sell. Wii owners aren't their typical audience, as demonstrated by the poor sales of titles that would typically sell reasonable on other systems.

Some devs are trying, but to a fault are almost all popping our games in the mould of Wii Sports or Nintendogs. Expect Mario Kart-a-likes to follow.

I just can't shake the idea that the Wii is going to turn out to be a massively profitable technology demonstrator/marketing study for Nintendo's next console, which is coming sooner rather than later. Will they really ignore HD? The Wii might be a half-generation back in terms of its capabilities compared to its competitors, but Ninty could be positioning itself to be a half-generation ahead...

I dunno mebbe I'm missing the point of the Wii entirely...I just see HD displays getting cheaper and bigger, seems a shame not to give them the eye candy they'll be demanding.

Hopefully it's a technology trainer for the next Nintendo console. Get used to the motion sensing on the cheap-to-produce SD games before moving up to the HD resolutions next time.

I just worry that it was a "this is different, let's try it" move from Nintendo that has unexpectedly taken off and there is no solid plan for the follow up console. They were seriously take off guard by the demand as the hardware shortages show.

Or there was such a plan, but the unexpected success caused them to revise it...delaying or even cancelling...

The next Nintendo console...could it mark Nintento's serious return to the game after being an also-ran for several generations?

Were I a gambler, I wouldn't bet against it...though even if this is all preplanned by Nintendo, I agree that they were caught off guard with how successful it (the Wii) was.

The only thing I can see that would prevent them from taking advantage of their position is arrogance.

can you imgaine the next ninty console forgoes all the motion and waggling for super high specs and graphics drool! id buy it!

Of course you would.

No, I can't imagine it. I think the whole Wii concept was born out of Nintendo's need to get out of the race for more and more powerful consoles. With luck we'll see an HDMI socket but it'll probably still be 480p and stereo only.
The next gen. Nintendo will have enhanced waggling if nothing else.

i think you have missed the point, Whats being said is that although the success of the Wii is massive much of that success is gimmick still, its like every one is buying the console but whos playing it?, oonce you have had your couple of months and then you move back to your trusty 360 or PS3, if this is the case Nintendo will notice this and as such just launching a Wii follow up no matter how compatable with HDTV wont just work,forget motion for now, its going to need to be graphically capable of anything MS or Sony can make because their systems will also have motion and Nintendo cant comete with simlar systems at a lower spec, they got away this gen with it because its new, but next gen they will have to compete like it or not.

perhaps we will see near xmas when a possible 360`mote is released (still rumor as of yet) would mario and sonic have sold better on a 360 than it is currently on the wii if the controls were the same?

ps. why would a HDMI port be added for 480p? when it could just upscale to 1080p if required, if a HDMI port was added id expect a min of 1080i.

I don't think the hardware it's self is a gimmick, it's the software.
Nintendo are past masters at reheating their hardware so I think the Wii might well see a few reworks before it's fully replaced. But when it is replaced (Your right) it will be at least as powerful as the PS3 (as it'll need to be) but they won't do that until the tech is cheap enough to make a profit on a sub £200 console.
And I know you said to ignore waggling because every one will be doing it but as they've do it with the DS, and the Wii, I bet that any thinking Nintendo are doing on its next gen. will include coming up with another new, novel and well thought out way to interact with your games.
Almost all HD displays include a scaler so I don't know if upscaling on the Wii would weigh up well against the extra cost when the content isn't HD to begin with. HDMI cuts out a DAC and an ADC stage as well as an analog cable, and using progressive scan should give the best chance to work well on LCD or Plasma.
So there.

Touché :~)

Actually theres bits of the scenario I proposed (and tyr, whose opinion should not be ignored, seems to be thinking along similar lines) that both of you are missing (individually)...and bits that you both got (ditto), but might not realize.

First distinction...Nindendo was planning on this all along. They don't have no "notice" anything about Wii owners behaviour, the Wii was never intended to be anything but a placeholder and technology test bed, that happeded to be so wildly successful they may have revised their plans to replace it.

Second disticntion...Of course Nintendo is going to wait until component prices are more reasonable, that was almost the entire point of their waiting. They also get to pimp the Wii for all its worth, keeping their key franchises active and in gamers minds, and keeping their devoted fanboys happy. Another benefit is avoiding the technology shakeout...for instance, the next Ninty console might be based on a multi-core design (after Sony works out how to develop effectively for it) with a BluRay drive (they missed having to take a side there), and rumble (Sony discovered to their detriment people like the rumble). Thats just an example, but you can see how they neatly sidestepped three potential pitfalls.

Third distinction...though I haven't mentioned this before, I think the NNC will be BC with the Wii, therefore will retain the "waggle", how central this will be I cannot say, but "waggle" is selling consoles...

Fourth distinction...the Wii is not truly "next-gen" (this gen), the NNC will be of this gen, and unless I am wrong will not be the first console of the next "next-gen". That will be the next Xbox, as Nintendo will have the NNC and Sony is committed to the PS3. The distinguishing characteristics of the next "next-gen" are still shouded in the mists of future time.

So what your saying is the the Wii is a bit like the new(ish) Beetle and the old Audi TT in that they were both concept cars that were so popular VW put them into production. Problem is they are both just old VW Golfs underneath. Oh and early TTs had to get a retro fit to stop them spinning out on high speed bends but that sounds more like a 360 analogy.

Id say that works for the DS but not so much the Wii, the Wii was more like a Ford Focus being planned to be a concept car look and feel but just hoping it would do well , and did!

Where'd my quote marks go?

While we're at it. The PS3 is like Ferrari, very powerful and expensive but almost unusable for most things you'd use a car for. The 360 is like a 911, nearly as powerful and more usable than the Ferrari but with a massive design flaw. Meanwhile the Focus massively out sell both of them because they can afford it, want it and use it.

I know I started the car thing but can we get back to normal programming?